It may be a whopping two years before salivating businesses can even think about moving into Walter Reed’s soon-to-be-shuttered campus in Northwest D.C., but that’s not stopping officials from letting them have a look-see. On Friday morning, city officials gave a tour of the 113-acre campus to a dozen interested national retailers and their brokers.
The news release did not say which retailers wre coming, however, it said the “tour was scheduled in response to the resounding interest of the site at the Las Vegas ICSC conference this past May.” Retailers that city officials met with at the conference to discuss its Walter Reed site included Wegmans, Home Depot and Michaels.
The Walter Reed Army Medical Center will be vacated by the Army next month as part of the base closure and realignment recommended in 2005. The hospital is moving to Bethesda Naval Medical Center. The District will regain control of much of property fronting Georgia Avenue and the residential Aspen Street.
Mayor Vincent Gray said Friday the city plans to submit the reuse plan to the federal government next spring and then will “move immediately to selection of a development team.”
According to the release, the city hopes to select the site’s developer by spring 2012 so it can begin partnering with retailers.
